Zophia's Night

Near the middle of summer, a bright star rises above the horizon for a few nights every year. Named for a famous gardener who kept prodigious displays of herbs and flowers. Annoyed at the constant stream of visitors they locked their gate and put up a sign for everyone who just wanted to look to wait until midsummer. It became an annual event for everyone to visit Zophia’s gardens. The custom spread to keep a few days every year to appreciate the work of farmers and gardeners. Townspeople would visit the fields and gardens of those around them and give small gifts or spend an hour doing small tasks for the farmer. During this time the farmer or gardener becomes a celebrity for a day. The timing was settled on the rising and falling of a star which became known as Zophia. The celebration begins at sundown the first night Zophia’s star can be seen and ends the first night it no longer does. This is a period of five to eight days depending on latitude and terrain. In deep valley towns, they often post a scout at the rim of the valley with a signal fire ready to light in the evening the star is thought to rise. Some regions host festivals, particularly in cities and towns with few farms. A temporary open market would be built with everything from produce, ready-to-eat foods, performances, and games of chance. This festival feel has started to come to more rural areas. Farmers and gardeners with distant or inconvenient to visit homes and especially wildcrafters and gatherers now build roadside stands on main lanes. They’ll have displays of their best products and usually goods for sale. Hunters and trappers have started to follow suit with choice pelts, hand-cut antler buttons, jerked meats, and other animal products. Central celebrations have become a new addition with food, drink, and music from dusk to dawn. It’s a popular time for marriage proposals.